The present invention relates to a linear motor, particularly to an improvement in a stator which is constructed by combining a plurality of permanent magnets.
Recently, in the field of office automation apparatus, it has been proposed to utilize a linear motor at a part such as a printing head which is required to be linearly moved. Generally, the linear motor has a stator in which a plurality of permanent magnets are combined in series so that their opposite magnetic poles may face to each other, and a movable part which is disposed outside the stator so as to surround the stator and which includes a coil capable of sliding in the axial direction of the stator. When electric current is allowed to flow through the coil so as to intersect magnetic flux generated from the permanent magnets, drive force acts on the coil in its axial direction due to an interaction between the electric current and the magnetic flux. As a result, the movable part is moved.
In such a linear motor, the positioning accuracy of the movable part is affected by the assembling accuracy of the plurality of permanent magnets in the stator. Hitherto, the plurality of permanent magnets are fixed to a bar-shaped supporting member by adhesion as described later in detail.
When such adhesion is performed, large repulsion force acts between adjacent permanent magnets. Thus, the permanent magnets must be kept held with a jig until adhesive is completely solidified. This means that a manufacturing process of the stator requires a time duration for solidifying the adhesive and position deviations of the permanent magnets are apt to occur.